Daily Edition

Pandora Stock Rises on Merger Rumors

Shares of the online music company have advanced 32 percent in three weeks.

Shares of Pandora Radio rose 2 percent on Friday and are now up 32 percent in the past three weeks as rumors swirl that the streaming-music firm is on the auction block.

Pandora is popular, with 100 million unique listeners each month, but it is losing money, and two months ago, Brian McAndrews stepped down as CEO and was replaced by co-founder Tim Westergren.

Some investors are calling for a sale of the company, and SiriusXM Radio is often mentioned as a viable suitor, though there's no indication the satellite firm is interested in such an acquisition.

In its most recent quarter, Pandora revenue came in at $297 million, mostly from selling ads, but it lost $57 million. While revenue rose 29 percent, the loss was three times greater than it was in the same quarter a year ago.

Despite the stock's recent rally, shares were 39 percent lower on Friday than they were a year ago. The company's market capitalization is $2.6 billion.